‘Touchez Pas au Grisbi’ a great, unorthodox French film noir

Jeanne Moreau and Jean Gabin in “Touchez Pas au Grisbi,” to be shown at Pacific Film Archive.

Photo: Del Duca Films 1954

Jean Gabin, at his weary best, stars in this 1954 French film about a gangster coasting toward retirement who is drawn back into the fray by his partner’s indiscretion.

It’s a crime film unlike any other, thanks to the fascinating and satisfying ways in which director Jacques Becker consistently illuminates tangential aspects of this gangster’s life. It’s the details that make it.

Gabin and his partner hole up and make their plans, over pâté and crackers. When it’s time to go to bed, Gabin gives him pajamas, a toothbrush and towels. We see Gabin brushing his teeth. (Did you ever see James Cagney brushing his teeth in a movie? Or Robinson?)

Interestingly, every detail feels essential. As viewers, we find ourselves guided by a directorial personality, who is interested, not so much in what the characters do, but what they’re like and how they feel. In the case of this gangster, he’s in his 50s and just wants to relax.

Mick LaSalle is the film critic for the San Francisco Chronicle, where he has worked since 1985. He is the author of two books on pre-censorship Hollywood, "Complicated Women: Sex and Power in Pre-Code Hollywood" and "Dangerous Men: Pre-Code Hollywood and the Birth of the Modern Man." Both were books of the month on Turner Classic Movies and "Complicated Women" formed the basis of a TCM documentary in 2003, narrated by Jane Fonda. He has written introductions for a number of books, including Peter Cowie's "Joan Crawford: The Enduring Star" (2009). He was a panelist at the Berlin Film Festival and has served as a panelist for eight of the last ten years at the Venice Film Festival. His latest book, a study of women in French cinema, is "The Beauty of the Real: What Hollywood Can Learn from Contemporary French Actresses."